"Call if you need anything," Elizabeth said before walking through the front door. She was taking grandpa and nanna to a small town about an hour away from here. The winters in Idaho were way too brutal, and the summers just got way too hot. So they decided that they might move here, which I was very happy about.

I waved to them as they backed out of the driveway, and then closed the door and locked it. The clock rang next to me, telling me that it was eleven o'clock. I only had one hour to get ready, it's a good thing that I already showered. I ran up the stairs, Tar-Heel following me. Elizabeth told me that the dog care person was coming at one, and if I were to go out I was to leave him in the backyard.

It took me about thirty minutes to figure out what to wear, but I finally decided. A pair of tight dark blue denims, and a black cami. When I was outside I had felt how warm it was and thought that a cami was perfect for this weather. I then put on a black pair of sandals and plugged my hair straightener in. My hair was naturally curly/wavy, and I only straightened it just so it wouldn't be too crazy. It only takes me about ten minutes max, so when I was finished with my long, wavy, blonde hair I moved onto make-up.

Why girls where so much is beyond me. All girls have natural beauty, why try and hide that with all this crap to make you look like plastic? I wear make-up, don't get me wrong. But I don't wear loads of it everyday, mostly just for special occasions. I put on my soft, black eyeliner, a small hint of blue eyeshadow and a simple line of tan lip stick.

By the time I was done, the doorbell rang. I think I am more nervous right now than I was for my first date with Conner. I walked down the stairs, trying to control my breathing. I took a long breath before opening the door, a smile immediately forming on my face.

"Hey," he greeted me.

"Hi," I said. "Come in," I motioned him inside. He walked past me and inside the house, I closed the door behind him.

Right when I had closed the door, Nathan had spun me around and pushed me against the door forcefully. His lips crashed onto mine and he darted his tongue into my mouth, his hands roaming up and down my sides. His touch sending a shiver throughout my whole body. I ran my hands through his hair as he moved his mouth to my neck and started nipping and sucking, probably making marks.

I let out a soft moan when he found my weak spot, and the mean guy that he is stayed there, making me let out numerous moans. God was it getting hot in here, I noticed that he was wearing his leather jacket and I pulled it off of his shoulders. He was wearing his usual attire, gray wife beater with baggy jeans. But god did he look hot in it.

He then returned to my mouth, our tongues dancing around each other. He pressed me harder against the door and I decided that I was going to have some fun. I put my hand on his knee and slowly made my way up his inner leg. His quite moans letting me know his satisfaction. My hand kept traveling up as his slowly started making its way down from my cheek and towards my chest.

We were both so close, but of course his stupid cell phone rang. Our lips and hands broke away, the moment clearly now gone, and we both groaned.

"Damn it," Nathan muttered before pulling his phone out of his jean pocket. He looked at his caller i.d. and let out another groan, "what the hell does she want?"

"Who is it?" I asked, my breathing a little uneven.

He looked at me with his amazing blue eyes, "Rachel."

I looked away and rolled my eyes, the moment was defiantly gone.

"Yeah?" I heard him ask.

I watched him, he was clearly aggravated, as was I.

"Look not today, i'll call you later," he hung up without another word.

I gave him a questioning look, "everything okay?"

"It's fine," he said before leaning down and giving me a quick kiss. "Ready?" He bent down and picked up his jacket that was on the floor.

"Yeah, let me just leave a note real quick." I wrote one for Elizabeth and that dog person before walking outside and locking the door with my keys.

I looked towards the driveway but didn't see Nathan, until I noticed that he was parked on the street in front of the house. Shit, I forgot that he has a death bike rather than a car.

I walked down the lawn and stood next to the bike, noticing I was there but not saying anything Nathan looked at me, "what's wrong?"

I stared at bike like it was a disease, "you sure you don't have any other type of transportation?" This will be the first time I ever rode on his bike.

He laughed, "yeah I'm sure." He handed me his helmet, "come on."

I took the helmet hesitantly, "I don't know."

He sighed before getting off the bike and standing in front of me. "Listen to me," he took his helmet from my hands and placed it on my head, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Okay?"

I scoffed, "that's not much comfort Nathan."

"Haley, do you trust me?"

I looked at him, our eyes locking. I nodded, "yes," I said in a whisper.

He smiled, "then you need to trust me when I say that I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

My eyes went to the ground, "okay."

"Okay," he climbed back on the bike and held out a hand for me.

I smiled and took it, he helped me onto the back of it. "Ready?" He called back.

"Yes." NO!

"Hold on tight!" He then started the bike with a kick, and I immediately wrapped my arms around his waist, holding on for dear life. I felt him laugh, and I wanted to know something before we left.

"Hey! How many girls have actually gotten off this thing alive?" I had to yell because of the engine.

He was silent for a couple of seconds, "none!"

"What!?" That was so not comforting.

He laughed, "chill. None because no girl has ever been on my bike before! Your the first!"

That should have made me really nervous right? It didn't, instead it made me feel incredibly safe. Nathan then kicked the kickstand up and we were flying down the street.

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"You okay?" Nathan asked me when he climbed off the bike.

"Yeah," I said taking his hand and also climbing off. "Where are we?" I looked around, not recognizing anything around us.

"About thirty minutes into Wilmington," he told me.

"Wilmington? How often do you come here?" It was about thirty minutes away from Tree Hill, so we were on his bike for a good hour. The time went by so fast though on a bike.

"Maybe once every couple weeks, just when I really need to get away." I nodded, I know what that feels like.

"So is this what you wanted to show me?" We were now standing in a parking lot next to a playground.

He laughed, "yes Haley I wanted to take you about 60 miles away just to show you a playground."

I shrugged, "you never know. You could have taken me out here to kill me. Bury my body under the monkey bars."

He smiled, "now why would I ever want to do that?" He then looped his arm around my waist and brought my lips to his. It was soft, caring, and amazing. We stood like that, kissing one another, for a couple of minutes. I realized that they were kids around and pulled away.

"We're being watched by angry mothers," I told him.

He turned around, there were three mothers sitting on a bench glaring at us. He turned back around, "they're just jealous of you."

I swatted his chest, "you're disgusting."

He laughed and then threw his arm around my shoulder and started walking me towards the woods. Now I was really confused.

"Oh great Nathan, make them think that were going into the woods to have sex. That's wonderful," I teased him.

He laughed before yelling, "god I so want you Haley James! Lets go into the woods and have endless sex!"

"Nathan!" I turned around to see the mothers ushering their kids away from us and to their cars. "I can not believe you said that!" I hit him on the shoulder.

Nathan laughed, "they'll get over it."

"You're such an ass," I teased him.

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, "yeah but I'm your ass."

I smiled before hanging back a bit and jumping onto his back. He laughed and leaned forward from the sudden weight on his back but then straightened up and grabbed my

legs for support.

"Because of that comment, you get to carry me," I said to him.

He laughed as we entered the woods, where the hell were we going?

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"Okay, my backs hurts," Nathan said.

I slid off of him, "I don't way that much do I?"

He turned to me a smile on his face, "no, but walking for about an hour with someone on my back, it's gonna hurt eventually."

I laughed, "so are we there yet?"

"Almost," he then started walking again.

"Almost? Come on!"

He laughed, "patience girl."

"I'm sorry, but I'm just curious."

"Believe me, this will be worth it."

"It better be," I said.

He laughed as we kept on walking through the middle of the woods. I was a little curious to say the least. About ten minutes of walking I heard a sound that sounded like running water. As we got closer I realized that it was a lot of water, it even sounded like a waterfall.

Five minutes later Nathan stopped and pushed back a large branch for me. I stepped past him and saw a bridge, a very old wooden bridge.

I looked at Nathan and he smiled, "it's okay," as if sensing my questions if the bridge was safe. He took my hand and we made our way across the bridge. We stopped in the middle and turned towards the waterfall.

It was absolutely gorgeous. The bridge was very, very far up from the flowing water beneath us, and the waterfall wasn't very big but it was still incredible. I could feel Nathan's gaze on me, but I couldn't bring myself away from the amazing view in front of me. I was a sucker for these kind of things.

"So what do you think?" Nathan asked me a couple of minutes later.

"I think, this place in unbelievable." I said looking all round me.

"You should see it at sunset, the sun sets right behind the waterfall. It amazing."

"How did you find this place?" I asked turning to him.

"Well," he said sitting down, his hand grabbing mine and bringing me down with him. "I got into a fight with my mom one day, got on my bike and drove here. When I got to the playground there were a bunch of kids there, and I just couldn't handle the noise so I walked over to the woods and just kept walking." I was seating between lis legs now and he was running his hands up and down my bare arms.

I didn't say anything, we both just sat there in silence listening to the water and enjoying being in each other's arms. We sat there for about an hour or even two, talking and joking at some points but mostly just being in complete content.

My eyes were about to close when I heard Nathan's voice in my ear, "hey. It's gonna get dark soon, lets go."

I nodded and grabbed his hand as he helped me up, and we started our long way back. It didn't take long for us to get back, this time I wasn't slowing Nathan down by being on his back.

We got back to the playground, and I started walking to his bike but he called me back.

"Let's rest for a couple minutes," he said sitting down in one of the swings. I nodded and walked over to him, taking the swing next to him.

We sat there in silence for a moment before I said, "can I ask you something?"

He looked at me, "yeah."

I have to choose my words carefully, "back there you said you got in a fight with your mom. I think that's the first time I have ever heard you talk about you parents."

"Yeah, and?" He asked.

"I was just wondering, do you get along with your them?"

He sighed, "not... not really. My dad left about seven years ago and ever since then my mom has been a addict ever since."

"Oh," stupid Haley!

"Guess both of our families are dysfunctional," he said in an amused voice.

"Clearly, it's like they need to have all the attention on them or they will go crazy."

Nathan smiled, "exactly. If they don't get what they want they'll end over dosing on painkillers."

"Or they end up slapping you," I chimed in.

"Parents suck," Nathan said.

"Pretty much."

"That's why I got emancipated," that shocked me.

"Your emancipated?"

He nodded, "for two years now."

"But that night, at your house I thought that was your moms house?"

He shook his head, "you assumed."

"Wow, you live by yourself?"

"Yep."

"How do you pay for rent, and food?"

"My dad, he feels guilty for leaving me and sends me a thousand dollars ever two months."

"Oh man, what does your dad do?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think it has something to do with the mob," he said with a small laugh.

My eyes grew, "wow."

He laughed, "yeah wow."

We stayed silent for a couple more minutes before Nathan got up, "you want to head out?"

No, "sure."

We walked over to his bike, Nathan handing me his helmet and he also shrugged off his jacket.

"Here, I noticed you were shivering," he said holding out his jacket to me. I smiled and took it, putting my helmet on first then sliding into his very large warm jacket.

"Thank-you," I said to him.

He smiled before climbing onto his bike and holding out his hand to me, "lets go James."

I climbed onto his bike and wrapped my arms around him, snuggling close to him. He started his bike and we flew down the road, heading back to reality.

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Nathan slowed to a stop as the light turned red. I realized we were back in Tree Hill, probably about ten minutes away from the house. But I really did not want to go back.

"Nathan?" I yelled so he could here me.

He turned his head slightly toward me, hie eyes still on the stoplight, "yeah?"

"I don't want go home yet!"

He didn't say anything, just turned his head back to the front. The light turned green and Nathan swerved past the cars that were in front of him and all of a sudden made a sharp turn at the intersection and turned onto another road. Clearly he was not taking me home yet.

It took about five minutes and we were stopped in front of an apartment house, Nathan's.

We got off the bike, and silently made our way inside.

"Do you want anything? Water, food?" He asked throwing his jacket on the chair. His apartment wasn't very big, but it was very homey. There was a small kitchen, then a nice family room. Nathan even had a plasma TV on the wall. There was a hallway where the bedroom and bathroom were located.

"Um, water is fine. Thanks," I said as I took a seat on the couch and turned on the TV. Not surprised that ESPN was on, I scanned through the channels.

Nathan stepped over the couch and took a seat next to me, handing me the water bottle.

"So did you have fun today?" He asked after a moment of silence.

I smiled and looked at him, "I did. Thank-you for showing me that beautiful place."

He nodded, taking a sip of his own water. He turned his attention back onto the TV, "so how do you think UNC will do tomorrow?"

"They'll have a tough game, but they'll pull through. What about Duke, think they can handle West Virginia?"

"Sure, West Virginia doesn't stand a chance."

I smiled, and also turned my attention to the TV. We watched it for about five minutes when Nathan spoke up, "are you hungry?"

I looked down at my stomach, it has been begging for food all day. "Yeah, I am."

Nathan jumped up and hopped over the couch, heading towards the kitchen. I laughed and followed him.

"All right let's see what we have here," he said looking through his fridge. "We have a lean cuisine meal, a box of pudding, and an apple."

"Nathan! That's all you have in your fridge?"

He looked at me innocently, "I haven't had time to go grocery shopping."

I shook my head, a smile on my face. I walked over to his cabinets, seeing if anything he had in there was maybe even edible.

"We could just order something," I heard Nathan suggest.

That's when I saw it. A huge smile came over my face as I grabbed it and closed the cabinet door. "There's no need, we have mac n' cheese!"

Nathan looked at me with amusement, "are you serious? Haley I think I stole that from some ten year old."

"Well seeing as your never going to eat it, we might as well get rid of it if I'm here. Now where are your pots?" I asked looking around.

"Here," he said opening another cabinet and pulling out a pot and handing it to me.

"Thank-you," I filled it with water and put it on his stove. I smiled and walked over to him, standing in front of him.

He smirked down at me, "you do know mac n' cheese is for like five year olds?"

I gasped, "dude it's food of the gods."

He laughed and grabbed me by the waist and setting me on the counter, a small shriek escaping from my mouth.

His head was inched from mine, "yeah if those gods are five year olds."

The distance closed between us, the kiss was slow and longing at first. He then traced his tongue around my bottom lip, and was soon in my mouth exploring. I wrapped my arms around his neck, playing with the small hairs on the nape of his neck. His hands ran up and down my sides, and along my legs.

The way he made me feel, was just amazing. Whenever he was around, Conner, Elizabeth, dad, it all just washed away and I could be well, me. He was never like this first, at the beginning all he wanted was sex. But eventually we started talking, and he liked that. There was this one time, we were at another party, he had snatched me and pulled me into a room. We started kissing, and made it over to the bed. It took a lot of will power, but I pulled away from him. He was surprised to say the least, and I was sort of scared at was he was going to say. But I spoke first, I told him that I wanted to get to know him before I slept with him again. He was shocked, very shocked. But eventually he did talk to me, I learned his favorite color was blue, his favorite singer was EMINEM, and that loved prime rib. What surprised me more was after I had asked some questions, he asked me questions. We didn't have sex that night, but we did stay in that room and talk the whole night.

I moaned as Nathan sucked on my weak spot, and I ran my hands through his amazing hair. Sure it was short, but god did it do wonders to me.

"Your so beautiful," he said in a muffled voice.

I lost all control, I ripped off his shirt and threw it behind me. His skin was hot under my touch, I ran my hands up and down his chest loving the feeling. He then tugged at me shirt and I raised my arms. We never broke our lips as he discarded my shirt. He then wrapped his arms around my waist, and I wrapped my arms around his torso. I then felt him pick me up, our lips never breaking. I was placed down gently onto his couch and he climbed on top of me. Then did our lips break apart, and we stared into each others eyes. His ocean blue ones were now dark, wanting and needing. His hand reached down and started unzipping my jeans, I doing this same with his. Our jeans were almost about off when a knock on his door interrupted us.

"Nathan? Are you home?" What the hell was this bitch doing here?

I stared up at Nathan in horror, his own face not pleased at all that the whore had disturbed us.

"Nathan? I know you're in there. Your bikes outside!"

"Nathan, she can't know I'm here," I whispered pulling away from him, climbing off this couch. I zipped my pants back up, and ran over to where my shirt lie.

"The bathroom, lock the door," Nathan said.

I ran to the bathroom and quietly shut the door, pressing my ear up against it.

"What the hell are you doing here Rachel?" Nathan asked once he had opened the door.

She walked in, with a smirk on her face. "I was just wondering what you were up to."

"Are you checking up on me now?" Nathan asked slamming the door shut.

"No, just wondering. When I called you seemed a little breathless."

"I had just gotten back from a run," Nathan lied.

"Oh." She turned around and surveyed the room, "what are you making?"

"What?"

"The boiling water, what are you making?"

"Oh uh, macaroni and cheese."

Rachel laughed, "wow Nathan the real badass."

"Are you criticizing the way I eat?

"No, just never thought that the bad-boy of Tree Hill would ever eat..." however Rachel was interrupted.

"How about you try emancipating from your rich parents and fending for yourself, Rachel. Then let's see what you eat, when you barely have any money," Nathan shot back.

"Okay, I'm sorry Nathan. You're right, sorry."

"Whatever," Nathan said.

"So, can I join you?"

Nathan looked at her, "no."

"Why not? You could use the company."

"What I could use is some peace and quite from you, god your like cancer, you can't get rid of it."

Rachel looked beyond angry, "sorry I'm such a burden on you."

"Apology not accepted, now get the hell out." Nathan walked over to the door and opened it for her.

Rachel looked at him for a couple seconds, "is she here?"

I gulped, shit!

"Is who here?" Nathan asked clearly annoyed she had not left yet.

"You know who, Haley."

"Haley? Haley who?"

Rachel scoffed, "Haley James jackass. You know the girl you are screwing!"

"I don't know what the hell you are talking about, but what the hell makes you think I would touch Conner Jacobs slut of a girlfriend?"

That hurt, that hurt right in the heart.

"Whatever Nathan, I'm out of here."

"Bout time," Nathan said before slamming the door the second she was through it. He let out a huge sigh and ran his hands over his face.

I opened the door when I heard the voices had stopped, my shirt now on. I stepped out of the bathroom and stared at Nathan. He looked up at me when he heard the door open. "I should go," I said walking to the door.

"Haley, what I said..."

"Don't," I held up my hand, "just don't."

"I was just telling her what I thought you wanted me to say."

"She knows Nathan! She knows about you and me! That's why I have been avoiding you, because if I don't then she'll tell Conner about us. I can't let that happen."

"Why not?"

I looked at him with shock, "you know why," I said in a whisper.

"No, actually I don't Haley. Why do you have to stay with that priss?"

"Because I love him," I said in a whisper again.

"Love him enough to break his heart by sneaking around with his worst enemy?"

I closed my eyes, when did this get so complicated?

"You're right, I can't do it anymore."

"Haley..," Nathan said with relief in his voice. It broke my heart, but I took a step back away from him.

"I can't... this thing between us. It has to stop." I looked up into his eyes, and it broke my heart all over again.

Nathan's jaw tightened, "why do you always have to protect him Haley?"

"What?" I managed to say.

"Why do you always have to take the easy way out? Why do you always choose him? What the hell does he have that I don't?"

I was almost in tears, "he loves me Nathan. I love him, and we belong together. It's as simple as that."

"I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me that I mean nothing to you, tell me that you truly want Conner and not me."

I was fighting to hold the tears back. I gained my composure and looked into his now cold, hard eyes as they bore into me.

Tears started flowing from my eyes, "good-bye Nathan." I opened the door and ran down the stairs and towards the streets. I ran as fast as I could, the tears streaking down my face. When I realized that I couldn't walk all the way home I decided that I was going to call the one person who could maybe even understand one ounce f this. I pulled out my cell phone, trying to stop the sobs.

I had finally realized why everything between Nathan and I were so complicated, it was because I had fallen for him. I had developed strong feelings for him, in just a few short months. With Conner it took me almost a year to finally see that I liked him even remotely a lot.

I searched through my contacts pressing the send button, thanking god when he picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Hales, boy am I glad to see you called. My parents have been crazy trying to make sure..."

"Jake!" I choked out through his rant.

"Haley what's wrong?" He asked now very concerned.

"I'll tell you everything later, but please just come and take me home. I need you!"

Haley didn't know it then, but it wasn't Jake, or Brooke or Lucas, and not even Conner that she needed. It was the raven haired outsider that she had just left heartbroken, that's who she really needed.

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There you guys go! Btw, I did that last line in third person for a reason! Hope you all liked it, please don't forget to review!!